Sales Taxes

Economist Arthur Laffer occupies an exalted place in Republican tax-policy circles thanks to his influential but controversial theory that some tax cuts generate more income for the Treasury. A staple in supply-siders' policy toolbox, it helped build support for the major tax cuts under President Reagan and President George W. Bush. So you have to wonder how House Republicans will react to Laffer's public endorsement of the push in Congress to require online retailers to collect sales taxes even from shoppers in states where they have no physical presence.

September 8, 2011 | By Anthony York and Marc Lifsher, Los Angeles Times

Amazon.com cut a tentative deal with legislative leaders Wednesday night that would allow it to postpone collecting sales taxes from Californians for another year. The company in turn would drop its battle to overturn the state's new law that required it and many other out-of-state online retailers to collect the taxes. Under the deal, Amazon would delay collecting taxes until September 2012, Assemblyman Charles Calderon (D-Whittier) said. The new law had mandated that Internet retailers start collecting state taxes in July if they had offices, workers or other connections in California.

Amazon.com Inc. has insisted that California's new law requiring it to collect sales taxes from customers in the state would hurt the company's ability to compete in the nation's biggest retail market. Nevertheless, in New York, the company and other out-of-state, Internet-only retailers have paid $250 million in sales taxes over three years, thanks to a similar law that state adopted in 2008. New York holds no special sway over the world's largest online retailer. Amazon is following the state's tax collection law, the first in the nation, for one reason only — so it can challenge the validity of the statute in court.

The absurdity of it Re "Sick inmates a threat only to state's budget," March 2 Here we have a semi-paralyzed man shackled to his bed with three corrections officers to guard him. "But you can't argue with policy," says a guard. I guess I am not alone in asking: Whose policy? It really does not matter. If the policy is absurd, which it clearly is, it is a greater absurdity not to change it. The policy that could help ? the medical parole law ? has been on the books for almost six months, but the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation has yet to schedule a single case for a hearing.

SACRAMENTO - The days of most tax-free Internet shopping in California are over. After years of controversy, the world's largest online retailer, Amazon.com Inc., was set to begin collecting state and local sales taxes on California purchases at 12:01 a.m. Saturday. Depending on where you live, sales taxes in the state range from 7.25% to 9.75%. New state and local government revenues from Amazon alone are expected to be as high as $100 million during the first year of collection, with the total for all Internet sellers reaching $317 million in the year that began July 1. Much more money is expected to flow into government coffers in coming years as e-shopping expands.

Statewide taxable sales, or retail sales, have increased steadily since 1994 after recovering from a recessionary downturn in the early '90s. The city of Los Angeles received the lion's share of sales and use taxes levied on retail sales in the county last year. Automotive businesses--including car dealers, suppliers, service stations, and mobile home, boat and motorcycle dealers--were the largest retail-sales-generating group in 1996.

Funny how it works Re "Majority leader found Colbert embarrassing," Sept. 27, and "Taking satire right into Congress," Sept. 25 So poor House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) was embarrassed by comedian Stephen Colbert's congressional testimony? I noticed, as I watched Colbert's most brilliantly written and executed performance, that a number of others shared Hoyer's sentiment. How deeply sad that these men and women of such self-importance can't bring themselves to recognize the value of his appearance.

One that got away Re "Obama should have fought for Warren on consumer agency," Business, July 19 I agree with David Lazarus that Elizabeth Warren is the most qualified person to run the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. So I'm stunned that President Obama, who touts his support for consumers, would so quickly abandon his support for Warren. Lazarus notes that Warren had "drawn fire from the financial services industry [and] its friends in the Republican Party.

The U.S. House of Representatives voted Wednesday to extend the moratorium on Internet sales taxes until 2006. The measure (HR 3709) does not change the current law, under which states can impose, but not collect, sales taxes from nonresident merchants such as mail-order houses or Internet sellers. What it does do is delay or even kill removal of the unfair tax advantage that e-commerce enjoys over traditional retailing. The bill deserves to die in the Senate or be vetoed by the president.